THE TIME TUNNEL-REVENGE OF THE GODS
THE TIME TUNNEL REVENGE OF THE GODS Writer-William R Woodland Dir-Sobey Martin Music-Leith Stevens--contains fight music which is sometimes combined with fight music from the later episode THE DEATH TRAP (see fights in PIRATES OF DEADMAN'S ISLAND, CHASE THROUGH TIME, TOWN OF TERROR, ATTACK OF THE BARBARIANS, and others). Tony and Doug fly in time as we hear the familiar narration. The boys land on sand amid dead soldiers in red skirts and tunics, silver armor, helmets and swords. Doug lands on his back first, then Tony a few seconds later. One asks the other if he is all right as the tunnel people watch them get up, "You all right?" Kirk wants Ann to narrow down the time fix from, "...sometime before 100 BC...before 500 BC." Doug looks at Trojans and Greeks...part of two opposing armies readying to face off at each other. He says, "We're right in the middle of No Man's Land." Tony looks, "They'll cut us to ribbons." The pair hide behind rocks strewn among a major rocky area. The tunnel people watch Greeks holding out their spears. Ann continues to get the time fix, "600 BC...700, 800, 1000, 1200 BC is the final time fix stabilized." Ray tells the spatial coordinates--389-58---where Greece and Turkey meet. Men lie down with shields and other men on horses ride over them. Men on horses fight other men on horses and some on foot. Tony and Doug watch the fierce battle. Many men on both sides are stabbed by spears, swords, and arrows. As Tony and Doug watch, they are taken unaware--behind them comes a Greek warrior, his sword upraised high, "Die Trojan!" They react and the sword is raised above both men, closer to Doug! The music used is somewhat different sounding to the music used in the same scenes from last week's cliffhanger (shown at the end of CRACK OF DOOM). There is also very little time between the end of the cliffhanger and the beginning of the theme music credits---which means very little time from the end of the cliffhanger to the end of the teaser, in fact, here, it is a matter of mere seconds. Where the cliffhanger ended in CRACK OF DOOM---the sword being raised---and where the teaser ends---the sword being dropped at Doug and Tony---and clanging against the rocks the boys were near--and they both fall---is a matter of mere seconds. ACT ONE On their backs, the two time travelers try to explain they were visiting cities in the area. They stand up and see the city of Troy. The soldier takes them to Ulysses who is in a camp of tents. It is then we see the titles over the stock footage of battles: spearmen, chariots crush footmen and run over them, other men fight. At the tent camp, Sardis yells at Ulysses, "Those plains are red with Greek blood!" Ulysses here is a sorry figure, not at all like the version with Kirk Douglas. He is supposed to be older after ten years of war but I felt someone else would have made a stronger Ulysses. A guard brings Tony and Doug in. Kevin Hagen played the Greek that attacked Tony and Doug and it is difficult to tell if he is in any of the rest of this episode--it was quite a small part (pun not intended--well, maybe) for someone of Hagen's skill and caliber, not to mention major past and future efforts in Allen's VOYAGE (THE SHAPE OF DOOM, ATTACK) and LOST IN SPACE (HIS MAJESTY SMITH). He is, of course, best known as Inspector Kobick in 12 episodes of LAND OF THE GIANTS. Ulysses examines Tony's shirt and Doug's sleeve and jacket front. Doug tells him, "We're from a faraway place and time. Sardis takes out his sword to kill them but Ulysses stops him and asks if they are from west of Troy, the Aegean, Delphi, North of Palenosi or some such nonsense. Doug says, "Let's just say we come from a place and time without end, past and future." Ulysses takes them to be gods from Mt. Olympus and bids them to sit. He gives them wine which Doug drinks but Tony is not seen drinking. The leader asks of the future. Tony tells him he will be victorious and Doug tells him he will not breech the walls of Troy. Sardis and Ulysses argue: Sardis yells that they are just men and will be tested. He tosses a sword over to Tony to test him. Doug says, "Let me do it." Tony says, "He tossed it to me." Tony and Sardis have a well developed fight sequence between them, Tony using karate against Sardis, who also makes use of his shield against Tony. At the tunnel complex, the image switches and they see Tony kicking Sardis in the middle of the fight (and for once it seems as if they backtracked on what we see earlier--i.e. a part of the fight that we already saw). The music used during the fight and most of the other music used is used extensively in later episodes (the fight music is used a great deal with the action music in THE DEATH TRAP and both are quite good, especially together--frankly one of the best bits of music, action or otherwise, from THE TIME TUNNEL). Leith Stevens does a good job with the entire score. Tony puts the sword to Sardis but doesn't kill him. Tony moves away but only a warning from Doug saves him from a spear thrown at his back by Sardis. Tony ducks; Ulysses slaps Sardis (oh, that really hurt). After continuing to call Tony and Doug, "...not Gods," Sardis mocks Ulysses some more, "Ten years of military blunders on this forsaken coast!" He leaves while Ulysses ponders on the time Achilles left, who would not listen to him similar to Sardis's leaving now. Ulysses tells them Sardis is a man of force; he will test them now with questions. Why? He should be capturing Sardis. Questions concern about the Messenger to the Oracle of Delphi and what was the answer, what did Apollo advise. Doug and Tony tell about Paras who stole Helen, Cassandra who was the Messenger, and answer questions about the start of the war. It began when a contest was suggested as to who was the prettiest--Venus, Juno, or Minerva. Jupiter was too wise to act as judge (wasn't Jupiter the Roman name for the Greek god Zeus?). Are we mixing or tenses? Paras gave a golden arrow to Venus and Venus gave him the ability to kidnap Helen. Minerva and Juno are on Ulysses side. Who are they? Are they alien "gods"? Helen, tells Paras that someone of something made her go with him--and questions Paras if it were poison (?) of some kind--and asks if it was poison similar to the poison he used to kill Achilles (in the heel?). This seems to indicate that some form of real magic or alien beings may have been involved. Ulysses asks for Tony and Doug to have proper attire and calls them friends from Mt. Olympus. Sardis goes to a soldier at Troy's walls, telling him he wants to be taken to Paras. Paras, in an excellent set (which looks like an ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT set), is looking out the balcony. Helen comes in and as he brags, she puts him in his place. She tells him she saw the battle from the parapet. Paras has a skirt on and curly blond-ish hair (Paul Carr looking slightly comical and effeminate). Helen tells him she will hate him forever. Sardis comes in to join them and betray Ulysses, Sparta, and Helen. Helen slaps him (oh, that also hurt). She leaves. Sardis tells her before she does so, "The rule of war is one side must lose and one must win." Paras is upset over the two "gods" that came into Ulysses's camp. Sardis tells him Ulysses is fighting on plains where Greeks cannot win. Paras asks him to get the two gods and tells a guard to go with him and kill him if he betrays them. Sardis wants to use the uniforms of the dead Greeks on the battle field to dress up 25 Trojan warriors as Greeks. Tony and Doug talk in the camp's main tent, both dressed in Greek uniforms. The gods were drafted into the army (actually they started the whole mess) but Doug says it doesn't matter, as soon as the Greeks are all asleep--he and Tony get out of here. Tony wants to find out about the Greek horse first and goes to talk to Ulysses for only a minute. Trojans cross the river in Greek uniforms--night and stock footage providing cover. Epeios, an older man--cautious, is conferring with Ulysses who tells him 100 men at first worked on the horse but now 200 men are on it. Tony knows of this plan already, making his lie of being a god all the more strong. Ulysses tells him the gods are on the side of those who win (actually they were on both sides!). He tells the old man Tony, "looks down on us from the future." Sardis and men attack the camp using fires. There are brief fights; Sardis gets Doug, and the Trojans, with Doug, get away! ACT TWO Sardis's men recross the water. Sardis has Doug taken to Paras, "He claims to know the future." Paras smiles, "Let's test him on the past." He asks Doug of Cassandra. Doug tells him she has a gift from Apollo--gift of prophecy. When Helen speaks the truth (according to Helen) Paras almost whips her; Doug jumps in front of her; Sardis takes out his sword to kill Doug but Helen quick talks Paras into stopping this, telling him that to kill one god is to offend them all. Paras, afraid it would seem, gives Doug the freedom of the house. Sardis talks to Paras about Ulysses's mind--to attack at dawn will cost the Greek his best men. Tony, wearing a helmet that looks too big for him and looks kind of silly at first, but grows on you (?), is with Ulysses who saw Sardis's betrayal but ignored it. Tony wants to go to Troy. Ulysses will let him fight with them. Trojans elite guard come out of the city. Ulysses has a few surprises for them, especially if Paras follows Sardis's advice. There is an overturned chariot in the background. Ulysses orders his men to wait until the Trojans get close and then fall back. Greeks use spears. They are to shoot fire into the straw and cut off the Trojans. The stock and the plot here become confusing as ever. Near the fire, a Trojan brutally stabs a Greek soldier down. The battle outside the rocks (inside being the new material, outside being the more heavily crowded crowd scenes of close quarter fighting) becomes more close quarter fighting with swords, spears, and arrows. Tony goes to fire the fire at the straw which will cut off the Trojans. Tunnel staff watch the sword fighting, see Tony battling two Trojans. They cannot find Doug. Kirk wants to help in some other way, if they cannot switch him and Doug. He orders Jiggs to get grenades and a sub machine gun. Men with shields block the growing fire after Tony shot it into the straw and it grows. Many of the men are killed--the shields not effective against the fire, which seems carried by the wind. Tony stabs one of the two Trojans he is fighting down--to death. Two more attack, Ann screams as one nearly kills Tony. The music here and following begins to sound a great deal like Steven's for LOST IN SPACE-BLAST OFF INTO SPACE. This is fine as it is wonderful---both BLAST OFF and REVENGE OF THE GODS should be on any future soundtrack of Irwin Allen's shows--if there are any more. The tunnel sounds up (sounds like the Jupiter II taking off) and the blasts occur but the weapons don't go (very irresponsible of Kirk to send weapons back in time, I think). The radiation could detonate grenades, so Jiggs goes into the tunnel mouth to get them. He vanishes. Ann wonders, "Where's Jiggs?" Ray says, "Transmitted...to the plains of Troy." ACT THREE The battle goes on and I really don't like seeing too much violence but I think battles where many commit violence but no one is shown dying, is really not fair either---if violence is to be shown--it must be shown as it is--awful and terrible. Here, the film that the stock is taken from--doesn't show much death, only battles, not the consequences of the violence. REVENGE's new material at least shows some deaths but not the implications (if Tony killed someone in the battle that didn't die the first time around--how might that effect time and history?--OR was Tony always a part of this battle and always did kill each and every one he did kill now?). Tony gets a Trojan down on a rock and stabs him in his chest. More arrive to fight him. Jiggs flies down and lands on his hands and knees. He shoots the machine gun at four more Trojans and Tony stabs one as he goes down. A Trojan jumps off a rock cliff onto Jiggs just as Tony spots him. Tony pulls the Trojan off Jiggs just as the soldier was trying to put his sword into Jigg's face or neck. Tunnel is locked on Jiggs and can get him back. They activate the power and the tunnel bursts again. The probe says Jiggs must be in the tunnel. When Kirk questions this, "Why because the instruments say so?" Ann answers, "Dr. Swain must be right, the tunnel goes to infinity." Kirk answers back, "I'm interested in a flesh and blood man, not a man in infinity." Unfortunately, this potentially excellent scene is marred by the simple fact that we, the viewers don't really have enough interest in the man ourselves. Jiggs, if anything, was the total cliche of every bad writer and critic who ever criticized Irwin Allen's shows for bad characterization. Normally, these critics are very wrong--all four Allen shows had excellent characters, actors to bring them to life and give them warmth, and believeable, likeable characters in an overwhelming majority of instances. Jiggs, however, is one wooden cardboard character with no likeable qualities at all---at least none that we are given. The actor who plays him is very bad...and here, it adds to the strange surroundings when he calls out from the tunnel in a stilted voice--fitting to the situation--but not good acting. We never get to know Jiggs much at all...he must have had some kind of personality but we've only seen him muttering orders and information, usually only to General Kirk and underlings. Jerry, on the other hand, would have been a great character to continue in all the episodes (he is not in all of them; Jiggs is not in all of them either). Jerry was a character with true potential as he added a bit of spice and conflict to the other three main staff people. Ann, Ray, and Kirk could always disagree with each other but not to the point where they wouldn't follow orders--Jerry sometimes did not follow orders and in his last episode--NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES--he goes right against them. Again, the potential of the situation--Jerry perhaps being caught and court martialed or something---is missed--totally ignored. Jerry also had a personality and some humor behind him when intermingled with Ann, Kirk, and especially Ray. He was sadly under used. Jiggs is not visible to the staff...nor to us (even when we can see him--get it?). Ray wants to repeat the retrieve procedure as if they were still locked onto him, same coordinates. Blasts occur again and the smoke doesn't clear this time. They hear Jigg's voice, which sounds odd and stilted, strange, "I'm trying--it's hard (!), it seems so far," Jiggs chants. He stalks out slowly, bent over--an old man! Ann looks, "What have we done to him?" They tell him to go back into the tunnel to transmission point. We hear that Music that sounds like BLAST OFF INTO SPACE again. Jiggs goes in and Ray orders a retrieve from the same coordinates using reverse polarity (shades of DOCTOR WHO). There are more blasts and we see a light bridge---a walkway which goes into the tunnel---the circular rings merely opened without the walkway. Without it there, people would fall through the rings! It doesn't always appear that way throughout the series. Jiggs comes back out all right. Ann, Ray, and Kirk run down to greet him. More bursts and Ray looks, "I must have left the retractor on automatic." They run back to the console. Another larger blast and a Trojan soldier comes out of the tunnel! Kirk orders Jiggs not to kill him. They synchronize the time differential--whatever that means. Many guards force the soldier back into the tunnel. He runs in and throws his sword at them from the light bridge (silly that they duck as it cannot really reach them from that far). The soldier is sent back. Jiggs looks down at his sword. Ann, Kirk, and Ray take it and look at it. Ann says, "The sword...from the siege of Troy." Ray says this is positive proof that it was not a myth. Kirk, almost hypnotically, says, "Ulysses, Helen, Paras, Achilles...they really did live..." Ray corrects him, "Not did live, General, they're living now..somewhere at the end of the tunnel." Ulysses tells Tony he did well and Tony adds that all his men did well. Tony, Ulysses and Epeious discuss the horse plan. Ulysses says, "The gods not only read the future but also the thoughts in the minds of men." Tony asks he be among those hiding in the horse which is a gift to Minerva. Ulysses asks him if it is to ensure the safety of the one he came with (Doug). I am not sure about all this: if Ulysses sees Doug and Tony as gods, how can he believe that Tony is worried Doug will die? We hear some really good music as Doug goes to Helen in Troy. She reports Ulysses is retreating--going home. Doug says, "He won't leave without you." Sardis comes in and mocks Doug. Paras takes Helen and Doug to the balcony and they see Helen's 1000 ships leaving, returning to Greece. Paras says, "Now you are Helen of Troy." He orders his guards to ,"...take the god to the dungeon and put him on the rack." He claims Doug is a false god. Doug tells Paras he will die on the sword of Ulysses and that Apollo gave Cassandra here gift of prophecy but along with that was a flip side: no one would believe her. Paras has Doug taken away to the dungeon. ACT FOUR Troy celebrates. Helen knocks a goblet from Paras's hand as he orders her to be his queen. A guard comes in and tells of a gift. Sardis says, "I fear the Greeks even when offering gifts (wait, although at this point, he is evil---isn't he one of the only ones not lying here and also isn't he one of the only ones who is smart and correct about Tony, Doug, and the Greeks--and while we are on it--isn't he Greek himself?)." Paras says famous last words, "We Trojans are not afraid of wooden horses." He orders it brought in. There is some nice stock footage of the horse coming inside the gates of Troy and the shouting citizens, the horse being pulled by Trojan men and some soldiers. Sardis tells Paras to destroy the horse. Paras goes on being stupid, "You Greeks (see, Sardis is Greek and they just reaffirmed it for us) and your superstitions, you amuse me." Now, hold on once more--isn't Paras also superstitious--doesn't he believe in the gods and Cassandra's prophecy and to offend one is to offend them all...oh well. The horse is paraded through town. Helen won't let Paras burn it, acting like what Paras says is his wife. She seems to have a more stern, regal streak to her now--has she accepted him? Naw, she's just trying to play along. Night arrives: Tony opens the door under the horse's belly and he and the men climb out using rope in what is yet another neat special effect---but also probably stock. The men have swords and crossbows. They sneak up the steps. Crossbows hit guards who are stationed on the tower. They get hit in the chest and stomach. Sardis yells that the Greeks are attacking and no one seems to care. Tony fights Sardis and wins, asking him where Doug is. The music here is very exciting and like almost all of the music used in this episode, is used again later in the series. Tony leaves Sardis alone and some Greeks come and shoot a crossbow into his heart. He dies. Tony waves over the parapet to Ulysses and he brings his men toward Troy. The Greeks open the doors for the rest of the army and the army comes in and begins to sack Troy. A guard tells Paras. Helen says, "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts..." Ulysses comes in and stabs the guard right through his stomach and out his back. He asks Paras to fight him, "I have no desire to butcher you." They fight and Paras begs to live as they cross swords. Ulysses stabs him in the stomach. As brutal as this sounds (and it is), other versions of Troy's destruction are even worse: one version had a Greek soldier cornering a Trojan family--stabbing the man, then stabbing the woman--who was holding a baby. Mother and baby fell to the stone floor below--to be trampled on. Other versions also show it from the side of the Trojans...and they are the good guys. Helen tells Ulysses she never lost faith; however I find it difficult to believe in ten years she couldn't have escaped if she wanted to. Helen tells Ulysses of Doug on the rack. The rack is stretching Doug as Tony runs down and cuts the rope. Tony gets him down. Outside there is more stock of Trojans being massacred. Some were bare chested since they were asleep. All are killed. Doug and Tony find Ulysses and Helen. The climax here is a bit lackluster. Aforementioned versions all have much better sacks of Troy with much more fighting and better choreographed sequences...and they last longer. But as with CRACK OF DOOM, not many series, even in the 1990s would even try to present the events (HERCULES and SLIDERS might, XENA has). Ann gets Tony and Doug's image on the screen. Ray orders her to refine the focus. Helen asks of Greece's future. Before Tony and Doug can answer, their own clothes zap onto them, the armor and uniforms of Greece vanish. Ulysses gasps, "the ways of the gods are indeed strange." So is this man's brain. Tony and Doug, without saying anything, vanish. We don't get to see Helen and Ulysses's reactions to that. CLIFFHANGER: It is day as Tony and Doug tumble out of the vortex. They see many dead soldiers in what appear to be Civil War uniforms. Doug realizes this is not the South nor Eastern US. He checks one of the dead men's ID: a private Augus Schmidt, enlisted 1868 in St. Louis, Missouri. Doug says they are right in the middle of nowhere. He spots three Indians riding horses at them. The pair run but the Indians give chase, dismounting when the chase enters a more forestry area. Crazy Horse, Yellow Elk, and Knife are the three pursuers. Tony and Doug hear some kind of signal. Just as Tony thinks they've given them the slip, he literally runs right into them! Doug fights and Tony is stopped from behind, one of the Indians putting a knife to his throat. As they fight, one of the Indians, Crazy Horse it seems, puts a knife right at Doug's stomach. REVENGE OF THE GODS (this ending was also tagged onto repeats of THE LAST PATROL for some repeating episodes out of order--as if cliffhangers don't cause enough confusion but they're FUN!)-Tony and Doug land in the desert in what looks like the West but they see so many dead men in Civil War Calvary uniforms. Doug checks a dead man Private Augus Shmidt, enlisted: St. Louis Missouri, 1868--after the Civil War. They hear running horses and rush off into the forests, hearing strange bird calls, signals by American Indians. The three American Indians have dismounted and grab them, knives pointed at Doug's stomach! (This is picked up in MASSACRE as Tony tries to tell the Indians, one who understands English that they are not soldiers and have no weapons; one Indian tells him they will die: end of teaser). The end theme song has after it, the narrator, saying, "THE TIME TUNNEL!" HISTORY LESSON: In 1873 the mound of Hissarlik near the Dardanelles was excavated by Heinrich Schliemann (who began in 1870 at the Aegean Sea in Asia Minor). Not one but nine or ten cities of Troy were found (with 16-foot thick walls!). Troy VIIa was destroyed in about 1250 BC, the traditional date of the Trojan War. The city commanded the anchorage of ships waiting to pass through the Dardanelles and it is possible the Greeks wished to destroy this stranglehold on the Black Sea trade. Heinrich was used to shady dealings and destroyed many important layers of finds to prove his point, without knowing he was doing so. He also may have stolen some of the treasures of Troy and Helen that he found--or he may have lied about this. Many of the events described in Homer's version of Troy's fall were quite correct historically and archaeologists have found much to support some of it actually happening. Other sources say in 1225 BC raiders destroyed one of the cities of Troy. Archaeologists are not sure the attackers were Greek! Some evidence suggests one of the Troy cities was devastated 50 years before its final destruction. The evidence of final destruction indicates an earthquake (and the mythic time--indicates the Heracles's raid on Troy during the time of King Laomedon). Troy may have been in the region of Illion. In the 19th century, before Schliemann's seven level discovery, scholars suggested the sight of the real Troy was Hisarlik mound. There was a city on the site some 3000 years, well into Roman times; the site was important and the odd sacking did not destroy it completely. When the harbor silted up, the city may have been abandoned. Schliemann's find of 7 levels corresponded to seven towns he labeled Troy. Troy I through Troy VII. He thought Troy III was the one Homer wrote of. Later archaeologists identified nine of more levels and believed Troy VI was the Troy of the War. Troy I and Troy II were destroyed by fire (Troy II in about 2300 BC)---1000 years before Homer's Troy. Homer's tale was written down in between the 8th and 5th century BC. Troy VI, the accepted Troy of the myth, was a city with Mycenaean style architecture; its rulers may have been Mycenaean conquerors. It was destroyed in 1260 BC and replaced with Troy VII, an impoverished place in which earlier stately mansions were replaced with hovels. This city was burned and abandoned around 1180 BC. The site was occupied yet again and much of the mound which had built up on the site was leveled when Troy IX, the Roman city, was built. The actual site is rather small (much as it was in the XENA episode of the 1990s): it is a fortified palace rather than a proper city (and THE TIME TUNNEL seems to have gotten some of that right at least in part). Most people probably lived outside the walls of Troy. Later digs added to Schliemann's activities and made a mess of the area. The sea, which in Trojan times was a bay, has long receded and the only the wind remains (wind which Homer mentions often in his tale). The original city was built in 3600 BC in what is now modern Turkey. It was rebuilt as least 8 times. There is no proof there was a war between Greeks and Trojans involving a beautiful queen named Helen and a wooden horse. There are vases with wooden giant horses that have been found but these may have been based on Homer's story. Greeks and Trojans did fight each other. Tradition had it that Helen was the daughter of Zeus and was hatched from a swan's egg--but there is no proof she ever really existed, myth or not. Just because a few true characters appear in a poem or story, doesn't mean the entire story is true. Nothing found at the site ever proved the possible existence of a wooden horse inside Troy. It is not also proven that a man named Homer ever even existed! MYTH LESSON: The mythic story of Troy claims the survivors of Troy and the Latin inhabitants of the peninsula founded Rome (and more than one good Steve Reeves movie from Italy dealt with this). According to archeological research Rome, the city state, was founded somewhere between 800 BC and 700 BC. Romulus and Remus, the mythic founders of Rome, were born 12 generations after the rise of the house of Aeneas, the man who escaped with the survivors of Troy. After many battles and much travel, Aeneas had a son and the son, Ascanius founded a new city called Alba Longa. Of the actual story myth, the Trojan War, there is a long tale, which could fill an entire season of THE TIME TUNNEL, HERACLES, XENA, and SLIDERS all put together! The Greeks turned to oracles and that did nothing; finally they relied on their own ingenuity and that provided the means to sack Troy. In THE TIME TUNNEL, they rely on Tony only a little bit but still had the plan in place--it was almost as if Tony and Doug need not have been in the story to begin with! The story of Achilles was also made into at least two very well done movies. Paris's story alone would take quite some time. He was left to die after a premonition-nightmare made his mother dream the child would destroy Troy. King Priam and Queen Hecuba set the child out to die in the cold on Mount Ida but a she-bear raised him. Paris took the nymph Oenone as a lover. Strife, at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis threw a golden apple at Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite--who all claimed the apple as it was for who was the fairest. Zeus refused to judge. The trio approached Paris and each bribed him. Aphrodite offered Paris the love of Helen; he abandoned his Oenone and set sail for Sparta. There, he seduced Helen and took her back to Troy (some say with help from Aphrodite but it seems as if she went of her own accord--again, many ill-historical but good action films have made much of this). Apollo, spurned by Cassandra--the sister of Paris--made her gift of prophecy a curse: no one would believe her. Priam locked her away. Menelaus's wife Helen was gone and he set out to conquer Troy. Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus lead. An oracle told Odyessus (Ulysses) he would be 20 years away from home if he left. He faked madness so he wouldn't have to go but Palamedes exposed him. Achilles' mother Thetis dipped him in the River Styx at birth, making him invincible--over all his body except for the heel of his foot where she held him from. His mother disguised him in women's clothing at the Scyrian court, for they knew he would probably die there. Ulysses tricked him into revealing himself and he too would now go. There is much, much more and it reads like an exciting soap opera with many characters and many magical events and gods and godesses. There were many on both sides, both human and inhuman. Among these, Apollo and Ares favored Aeneas and Hector (who was slain by Achilles and dragged about on the end of his chariot--but Achilles later repented of this and returned the warrior's body). Achilles revenged Patroclus, his friend, who was speared "low in the belly" by Hector after Apollo knocked off Achilles' armor from Patroclus. As I've written, there is lots more but you get the idea. NOTES: The writers of REVENGE OF THE GODS, or at least Doug, seem to have gotten the Roman names for some of the gods mixed in with the Greek names for the gods. Actually the episode uses mostly Roman names for the gods, whereas Apollo was Apollo in both Greek and Roman myths. Venus is Aphrodite. Juno is Hera. Jupiter was Zeus. Mars was Ares. For some reason, they used mostly Roman names---Ulysses probably wouldn't have known these names and probably have killed Doug and Tony...or have Sardis do it! Kevin Hagen's role was very small...too bad. An episode with merit but it could have been so much better. THE TIME TUNNEL tends to stay realistic in REVENGE OF THE GODS, not having any supernatural or magical beings make any kind of appearance, although Helen does mention some power Paris used to make her come with him...poison maybe. While we're on the subject, just which two gods were Tony and Doug supposed to be? We're never told and I doubt Ulysses or the writers knew either! Helen was portrayed as far too innocent for me. I'd rather think she was as plotting as Paris, Doug, Tony, and Ulysses were. Again, the climax could have made a rousing actioner but alas, that is the one place this story falls short. Doug and Tony were at their most devious here, just trying to stay alive justifies their lies and trickery (not really just sarcasm here), not to mention Tony's stabbing of several enemies. This, fight or die, kill to survive theme would run throughout the entire series as they kill again (mostly Tony does). The music used here (did I mention it three other times already?) is very good and used elsewhere in many future episodes (see CHASE THROUGH TIME). DOCTOR WHO did a farcical telling of this tale in THE MYTH MAKERS. XENA did a more serious version--if it can be believed!